Thursday, 21 August 2014

The Panaonic TZ55 Camera Review

A few months ago I welcomed the Panasonic TZ55 into my life.
I was really excited to be trying it out and loved that it was so compact, it
was something that I could keep in my bag all the time, and have on hand
whenever I needed it.

Up until the arrival of the TZ55 my bridge camera came
everywhere with me, and as much as I adore it sometimes it was just too big and
not practical for me to take with me. I felt the need to have a compact camera
on hand because I could not rely on my iPhone camera thanks to the battery
being a 5 minute wonder, so I knew exactly what I was looking for.

The TZ55 arrived in a compact box and had everything I
needed to get started. Everything but a memory card that you have to purchase
separately. Inside the box you will find:

-TZ55 Camera

-Charger

- USB Cable

-Camera string

-Instructions & CD ROM

It was ever so easy to get the camera set up, the first
thing you need to do is put it on charge until it is fully charged and ready for it's first use. It will
then ask you to input date and time information, and then you are ready to get
full use out of your camera.

The photo's used throughout this review are those that I have personally taken on the TZ55.

Camera Features:

- 16MP MOS sensor

- 20x zoom

- Wi-Fi & smartphone connect

- Sharper photos

- Large tilting screen

- Burst shooting

First Impressions
& Features

My first impressions were that the TZ55 looked really smart,
and I was really impressed with how the camera felt in my hands. You can
instantly tell that the TZ55 is a quality made product.

I liked that there were many different settings to choose
from depending upon the scene you were trying to shoot. A feature that I really
loved is that this camera boasts its own Wi-Fi. I can link my phone onto the
Wi-Fi and use it as a remote to take a photo remotely. A great example of when
this would be incredibly valuable is when you are wanting to take a family
photo, but one person needs to stay behind and operate the camera. Using the
TZ55 Wi-Fi, I could simply link it up to my phone and take the photo while
being in the photo with everyone else.

Another feature that I loved right away is the screen that
you can pop out, in a day and age where selfies are a popular trait of the
modern world, Panasonic have ensured that it couldn't be easier to take one.
The screen pops right up so that when you turn the camera around to take your
selfie, you can see the image before you take the shot so that you can in
essence get the exact shot you are looking for.

For the first couple of shots, I took a few photos of Leo around the house, and in all honesty I hadn't been blown away by the quality of the images on each of the different
settings. I hoped that it was just because it was a new camera and I was just
getting used to the different shooting options available. I did think that for
a £199.95 point and shoot camera the images should be a lot clearer than what I was
experiencing, and I decided to just keep going and looking at the images I took
along the way, to see if they were improving.

In the months since the TZ55’s arrival, I have taken full
advantage of keeping the camera to hand. I love being able to just reach into
my bag and know that I always have the equipment to shoot a photo should the
need arise. It is definitely a convenience for me, I have taken the TZ55 places
I didn't feel I could take my bridge camera. We used it on two recent visit's to
Alton Towers, I have used it at home and in the local water park getting shots
of Leo just having an amazing time. I even used the TZ55 to record the moment
we lit the candles on Leo’s 3rd Birthday cake while I took photos on
my bridge camera. It is exactly for moments such as these that I wanted a
compact camera to be able to capture these fleeting moments.

I do feel that the pictures I am taking now with the TZ55
are much better than when I first received it, but I do have to say that I did
expect more from it. These days I tend to use the automatic setting the most, I
did begin with going through the scene settings and choosing the one that was
most appropriate to what I was trying to achieve, but I seem to take the best
images on the automatic setting.

Over all I do really like the camera, but I do feel that the
images could be to a higher standard. I have been through the settings and I
have the images set to the highest setting, it may just be that I am expecting
too much out of a point and shoot camera, but personally for the money I would
expect it to perform to almost the same standard as my bridge camera.

The images aren't bad by any standard and you can see
from the images within this review that we have had some great times using it.

The battery life on the TZ55 has been brilliant and has seen us through each of our trips out and about. I cannot fault the over all performance of this camera and although we got off to a rocky start, over all I have really liked Panasonic's latest addition.

2 comments:

Hi there, I also have the Panasonic TZ55. It is NOT a point and shoot camera, as it has Aperture / Shutter priority and full manual mode. A point and shoot camera can only shoot in auto mode. So the TZ55 is a Compact Camera. It only has a very small 1/2.3" sized sensor, you want at least 1 inch sensor size. Forget about the pixel count, it is the sensor size that is important. Something like the Sony RX100, or the Canon G9X are good cameras. But they are far too expensive at over £300, I reckon they should be in the £180 price range.

Agghh, just spotted you calling it a "point and shoot" again! Point and shoot means you can't set any shooting modes, such as S/A/ or full Manual, the Panasonic has those modes, so it is NOT a point and shoot camera! It is called a Compact Camera. If you have still got the Panasonic TZ55 then bin it, and get a better camera. But do not get one with the silly loads of pixels, as that is simply a marketing ploy. Get one with a bigger sensor, your images will look so much better. If you go to the likes of Currys, they will tell you anything and sell you anything, they are only salsepeople. Have a look in Cash converters, or Cash Generators etc, and see if there are any better cameras there. Sometimes it is better to buy second hand, and save money.